


Foolish Games

by TriplePirouette



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-13
Updated: 2012-11-13
Packaged: 2017-11-18 14:36:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/562125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TriplePirouette/pseuds/TriplePirouette
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Gethsemane, Scully deals with Mulder's death, Mrs. Scully<br/>deals with resentment, the Black Cancer is tested and Mulder ponders his<br/>life's choices...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Foolish Games

**Author's Note:**

> This work was originally posted on April 16, 1998 under a different name. I have since changed to Triple Pirouette and I am posting for archival purposes and have not edited or otherwise changed anything about this story since then, including the rest of the author notes. -3P
> 
>  
> 
> FOOLISH GAMES  
> By Triple Pirouette & Melissa P   
> Catagory-SRA  
> Rating- PG  
> Spoilers- Everything up to and including Gethsemane  
> Keywords- Mulder Scully Romance GGethsemanee Black Cancer  
> Archive- Please ask my permission first before sending to speciality  
> archives. PLEASE FOREWARD TO GOSSAMER & ATXC   
> Disclaimers - We, the authors of X-File Fan fic, in order to preserve  
> the fine balance, establish romance, ensure more UST, provide for the  
> common thoughts, promote general GTM, and secure the blessings of "the  
> Look" for Mulder and Scully. To have an ordained minister Establish this  
> constitution of love. With this, we, hereby, do not want to intrude on  
> any copyrights of material used herein. It all belongs to CC, 1013, &  
> FBN. Everything else is ours. See also the End Disclaimers. 
> 
> Dedication - To Ralph, the monkey transvestite & Cheese, to whom  
> without, this never would have been possible. And to Cracker, without  
> whom we never would have met. 
> 
> This is a follow up to "Gethsemane" which made us all cry. :(
> 
> P.S. -(In tiny duck voice) Not his story, my story. Based on his story.  
> Romance, beware. Elelator goes down the hole . . .

______________________________  
Scully's Apartment  
11:21 P.M. 

Outside the thunder rumbled in a late spring thunderstorm,  
inside, Dana  
Scully's mind was filled with the turmoil of an emotional storm. Hours  
ago she had reported to the FBI internal affairs council that "Agent  
Mulder died late last night from an apparent self- inflicted gun shot  
wound to the head." Now she sat in her apartment, his old afghan blanket  
wrapped around her shivering body. She wasn't cold, she even had the  
fire place in her apartment going, but she couldn't remove the deep  
chill from her bones. And no one, no one could have removed the pall  
that sat on the FBI that next day. The looks, the whispers, the sideways  
glances. Only one person could make her stop hurting, and he was never  
coming back. Ever.  
Now, as the tears rolled down her face in a never-ending stream,  
she  
wondered if she should have, could have had the courage to tell him how  
she felt. If she had known, would she have said something?  
But she had known, in some flippant way. She was dying, rapidly.  
The  
cancer was spreading, and she had always thought she would be the first  
to die. But at least she would be with him soon. Now, with no real  
friends, and a family that resented her, all except her mother, what did  
she have to live for? Why should she seek treatment if there was no  
reason to go on living? At least, maybe, he was happy. Maybe he had some  
of the answers that he had searched for all his life, and maybe, just  
maybe, he was waiting for her on the other side. Maybe now he knew how  
much she loved him.   
She snuggled deeper into the blanket that he kept at her house  
for some  
unknown reason, along with his pair of sweats that she was wearing now.  
In some way it was a comfort to feel his clothes against her skin, to  
smell his faint musky smell on the blanket, his own manly smell on his  
Oxford sweats. In some way it made her feel as though she owned a part  
of him, like if she just held onto these things that he was never as far  
away as he really was. He never wore these sweats, and she knew why. He  
never wore any of his Oxford stuff if anybody but her was going to see  
him. He once told her that it brought back bad memories, but then why  
wear it at all? She thought that he thought it was a way of saying "I'm  
better than you, I'm smarter than you" without really meaning it, so he  
only wore them around her because she knew how smart he really was. She  
probably knew he was smarter than he would admit to himself. Mulder  
never gave himself enough credit. No one ever gave him a reason to.   
Throughout her time working with him, Scully had met his family  
and . .  
. other . . . acquaintances. And none of them had ever displayed an  
inkling of approval of Mulder. They all made him part of their agenda,  
their games, their twisted lives. No one had ever given him a smidgen of  
approval, she didn't think anyone had even ever said "I love you" to  
Mulder. For a psychologist, he had a lot of unresolved issues. But she  
would have said it and meant it, she would have shown Mulder how to look  
at the world with new eyes. She would have shown him how to let his  
feelings break down the walls around his heart, how not to let his  
Father's tormenting words and scorning remarks belittle him. She would  
have shown Mulder that love doesn't have to hurt like it did with the  
bitch from Britain, that she would love him right back and he never  
would have had to worry about rejection. But now she couldn't do that.  
She could never have the chance to do that. All she could do was be the  
only one to mourn the loss. No, her mother would mourn Mulder's passing.  
Her mom had loved him like a son, and now she . . . now there was no one  
left. Her life had become a tragedy, a living horror story.   
What more could she give? Her life? Her service? The FBI had  
already  
taken those things. Her body? The cancer had ruined it beyond repair.  
Her mind? She could leave it to science, but then who would want it? The  
only thing left to give had been taken five years ago by that dapper  
agent who sat in the basement. She had given him her heart, her soul,  
and all she was to become. In many ways, that first day had begun her  
life. Now that she looked back, everything before that day seemed  
pointless. Every experience seemed like a waste. Mulder made her life  
vibrant. There was a new surprise around every turn, and, even though  
she never let him know, she liked to listen to his theories. She liked  
to listen to his uniqueness, the unorthodox ideas that belonged only to  
him. And she loved the fact that she was the sole recipient of these  
ideas, he ran them past her before anyone else, and he would, in turn  
listen to her more scientific answers, giving her equal time, and  
respecting her opinion. And now he would never do that again. All  
because of her.  
All day she had thought of what had happened, why he had killed  
himself, and she could find only one answer. She had driven him to it.  
She had known how much he wanted to believe, how he wanted this to be  
his answer, how his search for the truth should not have been in vain.  
And she shot it all down. Dana Scully, trusted college, was the one to  
tell him that his answers were wrong, that it was all fake, that she  
never believed. But she did. Dana believed like she had never believed  
before.   
While she was sitting in their office after her meeting with  
Skinner,  
she had the amazing urge to do the one thing he never let her do before  
\- read her own file. He never let her read it, and now she knew why. It  
was traumatic to see. The results of the hospital's tests, the  
unofficial tests of the Lone Gunman, the eye witness accounts of  
Mulder's actions when she was in the hospital, all of it. No wonder he  
didn't want her to see it. Then, behind it she found the papers to a  
follow up report. It described the fertility clinics and the cloned  
boys, he even wrote, with a lot of pain by the way it sounded, of her  
stolen ovum. And, at the very end there were a few stapled pages of  
personal thoughts; a unique touch that made Mulder's reports his own. It  
was, apparently, an open letter that attributed to the necessity of  
keeping her in the X-Files, how the solved rate went up, and how she's  
kept him in line. The second page was an open letter of a more personal  
nature, describing how she had helped his sanity, kept him from delving  
into the far reaches of a killer's mind more than once, and forced him  
to look at the cold, hard facts. It almost sounded as if he saw her as a  
savior. And she had no problem with it, she just wished she had known  
sooner.   
The tears began to flow again with an intensity she had never  
experienced before, even for the death of her father. But, she still  
felt that nagging part of her saying that maybe he could be alive, maybe  
there was a chance, but she dismissed it. There was no chance. Mulder  
was dead. And she would never see him wear one of his bad ties again, or  
see him sitting there in the office wearing a shit-eating grin and  
cracking sunflower seeds between his teeth, she would never again hear  
him crack a bad joke, or perhaps the thing she would miss most, he would  
never again put his hand on the small of her back and lead her anywhere.  
It was all so unfair. He never had a chance to live, to do the things he  
wanted, to find Samantha, to see her tatoo.   
She felt a stiff breeze fly through the room, and its force blew  
out  
her fire, but at the same time seemed to wrap its invisible arms around  
her. She tried to imagine it was Mulder, after all, he did suffer from  
pyrophobia. It made the tears stop coming for a second when she thought  
of him as a spirit, living with her. Maybe it could be that way, she  
thought, just until my time runs out and I'm ready to join him.   
Dana didn't sleep that night. 

______________________________   
Location Unknown  
12:45 A.M.

The darkness enveloped him. The week form sat in his small cell,  
consumed by his own morbid thoughts. Would there be anyone to mourn him?  
Who would comfort Scully? It was a chance, a huge risk that he had to  
take. After all, what was his life worth without her? THEY had promised  
him the cure for Scully's cancer in turn for his life and his service.  
He had not hesitated for a second in his decision. He only hated the way  
he had to say goodbye... 

______________________________  
Offices of the Lone Gunman  
10:54 AM

"We're so sorry Scully." The whole group wore black, from Byers  
in his  
deep charcoal suit to Langley in black jeans and a plain black t-shirt.  
"Is there anything we can do?" Frohike asked as genuinely concerned as  
the last time they thought they lost their friend for good.  
"No Frohike," Dana said through the tears. "I'm coping." Last  
time she  
couldn't will herself to cry, now she couldn't stop. "Wha- What did you  
want to see me about?"   
"Two days ago, Mulder came to see us." Langley began softly. "It  
began  
like any other visit, but before he left, he asked us to do him a  
favor."  
"He asked us to give this to you." Byers held out an envelope  
with her  
name printed on it in Mulder's tell tale scrawl. "He told us to give  
this to you if anything happened to him."  
"We thought he just had a close call and was taking care of a  
few  
things," Frohike swallowed the growing lump in his throat. "We never  
thought..."  
"No one did, Frohike," Dana said as the tears poured out,  
undaunted.  
"No one could have known. Thanks you guys. You were real friends to him.  
Please, come to the funeral. It would make me feel better to see all his  
friends there."  
"We'll be there, Scully. Just let us know if you need anything."  
Frohike escorted Dana out of the building.   
_Dana thought as she left to drive back to  
her  
apartment._

________________________________  
Dana Scully's Apartment  
11:10 AM_

_When she got home she let her tears return full force as she  
looked at  
his last words that were meant only for her. She retreated to her  
captain's chair and wrapped Mulder's afghan around her as she turned the  
letter in her hand. Finally, with a rush of tears, she opened it. _

_Dana,  
When you get this I will be gone. I have gone to a place where  
you  
cannot and must not follow. Please. You must realize and you will see  
that I am doing this for your own good. I had no choice. What ever  
happens, you must remember that I have and always will love you. This  
isn't the way I ever dreamed of telling you, but I'm just chicken shit  
at heart. Maybe I was afraid of your rejection, you know my track  
record. I know that you would never intentionally hurt me, but I just  
don't think I would have been able to bear hearing you say that you just  
wanted to be friends. I love you so much, and you have to believe, that  
if I can, I will come back to you, as soon as it's possible I'll return.  
I feel that we were meant to be together. Oh, and if your thinking, "But  
Mulder, I thought that slut Melissa was your soul mate?" You're wrong.  
I was listening to the tapes. Presuming a soul can't reside in two  
bodies at the same time, Melissa couldn't have been Sydney and a polish  
man at the same time. I think I just wanted to believe so badly, but  
don't ask me why. Maybe the Government put more LSD in my water or  
something. But, anyway, isn't reincarnation just a way of coming back to  
find happiness, and once you do, isn't your soul free? I wish it could  
have been any other way for us, but I saw no alternative. Maybe,  
someday, you'll be able to hear the truth about all this, but now you  
have to be brave, I don't mean that you should hide away your emotions  
and give the office gossips another reason to call you the Ice Queen,  
hell no. You are the most caring woman I know, you've been more  
compassionate to me than my own mother. Your mother had adopted me as  
another son during those missing months, and I love you all for that.  
But, please believe that I love you with all my heart, and I will come  
back to you.   
Please, give my best to your mother and tell her I love her.  
Break it  
gently to my mother, she's very fragile.   
LOVE YOU ALWAYS   
Fox  
The tears wouldn't stop. He loved her. He really said it. And  
now he  
was gone. _

________________________________  
Mrs. Mulder's House  
Martha's Vineyard  
2:00 PM_

_Dana had forced her tears to subside long enough to tell  
Mulder's  
Mother. She had to, there was no one else who cared enough.   
She walked up the drive way and rang the doorbell. Through the  
etched  
glass she saw the fair, silver haired woman come to the door.   
"Oh, Ms. Scully, right? How are you? Please, come in." Mrs.  
Mulder  
showed Scully into the dainty living room. "I know it seems a bit  
forward, but, why are you here? Is something wrong?"  
She didn't know how wrong things were. "Mrs. Mulder," The lump  
in her  
throat grew by the second, her tears threatened to spill out. "I don't  
know how else to say this. Fox is dead." She could barely croak out the  
words, it hurt so badly. "He committed suicide two nights ago." The  
tears would not be dammed as she began to speak. She watched the older  
woman's resolve crumble.   
Surprised by her own actions, Dana reached over and hugged the  
older  
woman. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I miss him so much!" It seemed wrong to  
be comforting this woman who had only caused pain in Mulder's life, but  
she couldn't help it. Besides, Mulder would have wanted someone to be  
here for her. No matter how wrong it seemed._

________________________________  
Margaret Scully's House  
8:00 PM_

_Her eyes were red and puffy, even though the tears had stopped  
hours  
ago. Dana had parked her car down the street, she felt like walking.  
After hours talking to Mrs. Mulder she knew why Mulder held a finely  
drawn contempt for his mother. She was arrogant, but well meaning.  
Almost like a child. Like no one had ever told her how to act, what was  
right or wrong. But then, maybe coming from a rich family you didn't  
need manners. Who knew? All Scully knew was that she didn't like the  
woman much, but since it was Mulder's Mother, she felt obligated.   
Dana walked up to her mother's house and pulled out her keys,  
and then  
the memory hit her.   
Dana remembered last Thanksgiving. Mulder had shared the holiday  
with  
her family because his mother was with relatives, and Dana hadn't wanted  
him to spend it alone. Even back then they had been growing closer by  
the day, sharing more personal anecdotes in weeks than they had in three  
years.   
Her Mother had welcomed Mulder with a warm smile, but Dana had  
felt  
there was something missing. In the past it was as if he were just one  
of the family. Now, there was resentment in her mother's eyes.   
But what Dana remembered most was how her nieces and nephews  
seemed to  
gravitate towards him, and how he preferred their company to that of the  
adults. He was great with children. He played their games and let them  
win, acted like a child himself, but drew lines when the games got too  
rough. Dana watched them for hours, she could have watched him forever.  
That night she had dreamt of a life with Mulder. Him playing  
with their  
children, pampering their babies, singing them to sleep at night. She  
dreamt of a life without Cancer Man, UFO's, or all of the other crazy  
things that had dominated their lives.   
But now that could never happen, because Mulder was dead.   
"Mom?" Dana walked into her mother's house.   
"Dana? Dear, what's wrong?" Margaret's face was worried as she  
came out  
of the back room.   
"Oh, Mom! He's gone!" Her tears erupted quicker than she ever  
thought  
they would.   
"Who honey?"  
"M-M-Mulder shot himself! It's all my fault! I told him those  
things  
weren't real when he wanted to believe so badly! I loved him mom, and he  
loved me. He-he-he left me a note and he told me he loved me!" Dana  
broke down crying on her mother's shoulder, but surprisingly found no  
comfort.   
"I'm sorry Dana." Maggie pushed her daughter to arms' length.  
"Um,  
how's your cancer?"  
"Mom, did you hear what I said? He's gone. For real this time, I  
saw  
him."   
"Dana, oh, how can I say this? Your better off without him. He's  
only  
caused this family hurt."  
"No! I love him!"  
"Missy is dead because of him and his damn files!"  
"Mom!"  
"Dana, forget him! God! Why did you ever have to go into the FBI  
anyway? It killed Missy, gave you your cancer, it hurt your father and  
me more than I can say, and it's ruined your life! Look at you! Dana,  
Forget him."  
"No, he was a part of MY life, my choices, just like the FBI.  
You and  
Missy and Daddy were a part of my life, too! I never wanted to hurt any  
of you. But if you can't accept my life and my choices, then you can't  
accept me!"  
"Dana, don't make me loose another daughter. . ."  
"Then I guess you've made your choice." Dana ran from her  
mother's  
house to her car and sat crying for hours before driving to the  
sanctuary of her lonely apartment._

________________________________  
Location Unknown  
2:15 AM_

_Her hair was a corona of fire, her eyes the deepest sapphire  
jewels,  
her smile was atomic, and she was in his arms, laughing. Then he saw  
tears dripping down her porcelain face. She was crying, and the tears  
flowed like a river. He couldn't stop them. All of a sudden he was far  
away from her, separated by thousands of miles, and she was hurt and  
afraid.   
"NO!" Mulder sat up screaming in his cramped cell. Something was  
very  
wrong with Dana, he could feel it deep in his soul. And now he couldn't  
help her. God, how he missed her. _

_________________________________  
Dana Scully's Apartment   
3:15 A.M. _

_She wrapped herself in his afghan and let the streams of tears  
soak her  
shirt as she sat there. Now she had no one. Dana Scully, The Ice Queen,  
Dr. Freeze, Mrs. Spooky, was left all alone. What she wouldn't give to  
be Mrs. Spooky for just a few more moments in time. Then, she would tell  
him all she wanted to, kiss him just once, to feel his full lips against  
hers and to hear him whisper her name, and she to whisper his. Their  
first names, heavy in the air, not hiding anything from each other. Just  
another moment...  
Now, here she was, dying, without a friend in the world. How  
could she  
live? Dana closed her eyes and wished that death would wrap its bleak  
arms around her soon. _

________________________________  
Location Unknown  
5:15 AM_

_Mulder lay on the cot in his small cell, letting the tears roll  
down  
his face freely, thinking of Dana. He had the same feeling in the pit of  
his stomach as when she had been abducted. He had abandoned her to face  
the Bureau, her family, his family, all to save her. Did she know, could  
she understand how much he loves her?   
He never hesitated a second when he was faced with this  
decision, he  
had known about it ever since the end of the case with Harold in the  
bowling alley. After his conversation with Scully in the hall he had  
been approached by the Well Manicured Man. He said that everything would  
be taken care of, just to be at his apartment that fateful night.   
Now, he had time to think. Time to look back and ask himself all  
of the  
questions that he never let himself think. And Mulder scared himself. He  
realized that, instead of sitting here, hoping that the Consortium would  
do something, he should be out there, with Dana, treasuring their time  
together. Instead of being able to be with her and fight for her life,  
he was left to sit here and guess. Mulder would never trust the  
consortium, only when he heard it strait from Dana's mouth that her  
cancer was gone would he believe it. And yet, he had relinquished his  
life and service to the men he despised the most. He hated himself.   
Mulder heard the clip-clop of the mens' shoes coming down the  
hall.  
They were coming to take him for tests again. Horrible tests that they  
later erased from his memory. But deep in his dreams Mulder relived the  
pain. He never remembered the exact tests, but he could feel the pain,  
and when he awoke, he silently cried, thinking of Dana, who would relive  
her own abduction every day of her life.   
His faith in aliens now was shaken, but his belief in government  
conspiracies was proved. Sometimes Mulder thought of Samantha. With him  
in here there was no one left to look for her. Sometimes he imagined the  
men doing the tests on her, on his tiny, fragile eight year old sister  
who would forever be eight in his troubled mind. Most of the time,  
though, he thought about Dana. She dominated his dreams and his  
nightmares. Sometimes he would dream that he never left her and they  
were out pursuing another case, but sometimes he would find himself in  
the middle of his worst night mare, watching the men do their tests on  
her. Those nights he woke up screaming. _

________________________________  
Maggie Scully's House  
5:15 AM_

_Dear Diary,  
I can't sleep. And when I do, it's fit ful and full of  
nightmares. I  
feel horrible about how I spoke to Dana, but I can't help the way I  
feel. I loved Fox as a son, but now, oh, it's so hard not to resent him  
and his job. I try not to, but when I see my baby girl in so much pain,  
I want it to stop hurting. She's seen so much death and destruction,  
things she should never be subjected to. And yet that is the life she  
chose. If Dana had gone into a nice, normal profession, everything would  
be fine. Missy wouldn't be dead, Dana wouldn't be sick, it would all be  
so much easier. I wish Dana had never met Fox Mulder, I wish she had  
never joined the FBI. But, there's nothing I can do. Even as I think  
this, I know that poor Fox is not to blame, it's those men, that group  
Dana speaks of. I find it hard to believe that there is a group of men  
running the country behind closed doors, but Dana has never been quick  
to believe either. All I want is for my baby to be happy, and I don't  
know how to do that. I don't know how to make her happy. I don't want to  
loose her, I can't loose her. Oh, Bill, you would have known what to do,  
she loved you so much. Please, help her now. God knows I can't, she  
won't listen to me after what I've said. Poor Dana, she loved Fox, even  
if she never knew it herself. I just wish she could be happy._

_Maggie closed the small Diary and put it back into the drawer by  
the  
bed and dove into a sleep of fit ful nightmares._

________________________________  
Location Unknown  
9:15 AM_

_The conference room was filled with smoke, the air thick  
with tar and  
tension. From the far reaches of the oval table the six men sat at, the  
most infamous shattered the silence with his thick words.  
"Gentlemen, I must keep my promise to him. She is of no  
consequence to  
you now. I will oversee the operation myself." He puffed in his Morley  
and reclined in his chair.   
"Why should we do this for you?" The older man looked at his  
manicure  
and leaned against the polished table, playing with his cuticles.   
"What will it get us in return?" The overweight man huffed and  
then  
shifted in the too-small chair.  
"It will alleviate the pressure from the bureau. She won't be  
looking  
for vengeance, her life won't become a crusade as his did. Besides, it  
will give us a chance to test the new serum. You said that Mulder  
already has the anti-verum in his blood from the Black Cancer and he  
can't be infected, so let us find out if it will actually cure the  
Cancer Scully has. It's all very simple."  
"I'm still not impressed." The Well-Manicured man spat out.  
"Does this  
have anything to do with the fact that he was your son?"  
"Don't deny it," The gray haired "surfer" said from the corner  
of the  
room. "We have come across some information. Samantha was Bill's child,  
but Mulder is your son. You were well aware, and so was Bill." An  
uncomfortable pause hung in the air as the secrets were carried away on  
the wind.   
"Maybe it is true, but, I have almost killed him before, I feel  
no  
obligation to the boy. I am thinking in the best interest of our group."  
"Do it," the balding man in the corner said. "But if you screw  
up, you  
will pay the consequences."_

________________________________  
The Assistant Director's Office  
9:45 AM_

_Walter Skinner, weary from a meeting with his superiors about  
the  
future of the X- Files, slumped into his chair. On top of his usual pile  
of memos and letters, there was a note. _

_Agent Scully will not be reporting to work for an  
unspecified amount  
of time._

_Skinner knew the note was from the man he had sold his life to  
in order  
to save Scully, to keep Mulder from throwing away his to save her. Now,   
he only hoped the man would be merciful and kill Scully, let her be in a  
place where justice and truth did prevail._

________________________________  
The offices of the Lone Gunman  
10:45 AM_

_The three gunman sat there, grinning while Scully cried her eyes  
out.  
She didn't know why they were so happy. But they said they had something  
to tell her.   
"Scully, we have some news." Frohike began softly. "We snuck  
into the  
FBI morgue to look at the body, like you asked since they wouldn't allow  
you to do the autopsy, and we found something." Dana stopped crying for  
a moment, listening to these three wonderful men in front of her.  
"We took samples of blood and tissue, copied charts and records,  
and  
ran them against what we have in our computer. He may have Mulder's  
face, but not his genes. Whoever you have in your morgue is not Fox  
Mulder." Langley was grinning from ear to ear, Frohike was practically  
jumping out of his skin.   
"What do you mean? How could that be?" Scully was shocked, her  
breath  
caught and time seemed to stop.   
Byers stepped forward and showed her some transparencies of  
genes and  
chromosome pairs. "Look at this. Last year, when you were on the case  
where there was a hidden message in the TV signals, Mulder told us he  
was red-green color blind. That trait would be on this gene like it is  
in this blood sample we got from Mulder a few months ago. But on the  
gene from the body, there is no color blind gene at all." Byers put  
those down and pulled out two pictures of different DNA Helixes. "This  
one on the right is Mulder's. This one is from the body. Right here  
Mulder's DNA has an abnormality that occurred a few months ago when he  
was infected with what he knew as the Black Cancer. It looks like an  
immunity to some disease, so it was probably never mentioned in any  
blood work ups, but it's actually a very complex anti-verum gene that  
has been only theorized until now. The body in the FBI Morgue, doesn't  
have that abnormality." Byers picked up another piece of paper and  
handed it to Scully. "The body in the morgue also had an ulcer and a  
different dental work up."  
"And a serious overgrowth of body hair." Frohike said. Langley  
and  
Byers shot him a look. "What? It's true."  
"Scully, somebody altered Mulder's FBI and Medical records so  
this man  
would appear to be him, but it's not. Mulder's still alive." Langley  
looked her in the eyes and spoke softly. "We think the Cancer man may  
have taken him."  
"But he's alive." Scully's face lit up, her eyes filled with  
tears of  
joy. "He's alive!" Scully hugged each of the Lone Gunmen and even kissed  
Frohike on the cheek. "Thank you so much! My God he's alive! If you hear  
anything, call me right away!" Scully rushed out of the room leaving  
three stunned Lone Gunmen standing in her wake.   
She bounded down the stairs to her car and began to rummage  
through her  
purse for her keys. "He's alive. He's alive." she kept whispering to  
herself, as she began to dig into the bottom of her purse to find her  
keys. Then she felt the needle prick in her thigh and it all went black. _

________________________________  
Location Unknown  
1:07 PM_

_Mulder felt the thin needle slide through his skin and into the  
vein in  
his arm. He was strapped to the table in the white room. There was a  
light shining in his eyes, and he could feel the instruments poking and  
prodding.   
"Do you think they're compatible?"  
"Why not?"  
"It would be interesting to study the effects of the anti-verum  
and the  
Cancer in their offspring."  
Mulder thought he was going delirious.  
"Definitely, but that's not why she's here. We have to test the  
new  
form of the anti-verum."  
"But it would be a whole new field! Just think. They won't  
remember any  
of it, you could play god all you want. Think of the..."  
"You know what would happen!" The doctor said through clenched  
teeth.  
"It would all be over! Do you remember what he told us? No more of that.  
I will not..."  
"He doesn't have to know. We never did a thing, that's how we  
found  
her, that's what will be in our report."  
"Alright. But you will pay if he finds out. Where's the red  
head?"  
Mulder's mind was reeling. They were going to do something,  
something  
that involved offspring... He never signed on to be poked and prodded,  
but if it would save Scully's life, he would do anything. Now, his fears  
turned from introspective to the world around him. Who were they talking  
about? What anti-verum? Cancer? Whose?   
"Miss Scully is just down the hall, Doctor."  
Mulder tried to scream, he tried to break his restraints, but he  
couldn't break free. He was sedated, his vocal cords wouldn't work. All  
he could do was pray they wouldn't do what it sounded like they were  
going to do, and pray that they wouldn't hurt her. He couldn't keep his  
eyes open any longer. _

________________________________  
Dana Scully's Apartment   
5:43 PM_

_Dana swam through the groggy mistiness as she regained  
conscienceless.  
She was in her apartment, on her couch. How did she get here? Why was it  
so late? She vaguely remembered driving home and falling on her couch,  
but that was not what her body felt like. Dana felt as if she had run  
for miles. Her joints and muscles ached. Her head throbbed. Her stomach  
felt as if there were snakes squirming inside it to get out. She  
shrugged out of her coat and shoes, leaving her in running shorts and a  
sweat shirt. She reached up and grabbed Mulder's afghan, snuggling deep  
inside it. She reached for the remote and turned on the television. Dana  
recalled something about the Lone Gunman telling her Mulder was alive,  
but she couldn't be sure. It seemed more like a dream. Mulder was dead.  
And she was dying. Dana turned her attention to the screen.   
"Hey, this is A.J. Hammer and you are watching the top one  
hundred  
theme songs from Hollywood. This next theme was at the top of the  
charts, and the performer, Madonna, is no stranger to hits. In her video  
for this song she give us a peak into how videos and soundtracks are  
made. Oh, and I recommend the movie, too. Here at number twenty, is  
`I'll Remember.'"  
Dana leaned back and closed her eyes, content to let the music  
swirl  
around her and lull her back to sleep. But the lyrics only brought  
Mulder to mind, and the times they shared. _

_Say goodbye  
Not knowing when  
The truth in my whole life began_

_Dana didn't know when the lies ended and the truth began  
anymore. She  
was so confused about it all. Now, with him gone, what could she do?_

_Say goodbye  
Not knowing how  
To cry, you taught me that_

_Dana remembered the Donnie Pfaster Case. She was so afraid, even  
before  
she was confronted with that human monster. Then, when she was almost  
killed, and Mulder came in like her knight in shining armor and saved  
her, she could have cried, she would have, but it was so hard for women  
in the FBI. She couldn't cry in front of all those agents. But Mulder  
broke down her walls and looked into her soul. And at that moment,  
knowing that he wouldn't ridicule her for her weaknesses, only comfort  
her, it felt so right. To be in his arms at that moment felt right. And  
so she had cried in his arms, in public, in front of many fellow agents,  
and it felt good. _

_And I'll Remember  
The strength that you gave me  
Now that I'm standin' on my own  
I'll Remember  
The way that you saved me  
I'll Remember_

_Inside  
I was a child  
That could not mend a broken wing  
Outside  
I look for a way   
To teach my heart to sing_

_Mulder had a way of making her show him how she was really  
feeling. No  
matter how much she wanted to hide, he could always see the truth in her  
eyes, and she could see the truth in his. _

_And I'll Remember  
The love that you gave me  
Now that I'm standing' on my own  
I'll Remember  
The way that you changed me  
I'll Remember_

_Before she worked with him, Dana called UFO's, government  
conspiracies,  
and abductiees crazy. But after all he had showed her, all he confronted  
her with, Dana was a changed woman. She may not believe whole heartedly,  
but she was open to new ideas and theories. Especially his ideas and  
theories. _

_I Learned  
To let go  
Of the illusion that we can possess_

_Dana learned never to take anything at face value. She had seen  
so  
much, her illusion of a normal life now was turned on it's head. She  
could only live her life with Mulder. No one could understand her  
better. _

_I Learned  
To let go  
And travel in stillness  
And I'll Remember  
Happiness  
I'll Remember_

_Dana learned to roll with the punches, to take things as they  
came, but  
usually those things were not as life altering as the death of someone  
who meant so much to her. Now, all she could do was remember._

_And I'll Remember  
The love that you gave me  
Now that I'm standing' on my own  
I'll Remember  
The way that you changed me  
I'll Remember_

_Everyday of her life Dana would remember Fox. It was her  
responsibility  
now that there was no one left. She would remember all that he had given  
her; his trust, his love, his respect, his friendship, all of the things  
that he treasured in the world, because they were what he was fighting  
for. He had given her everything that was important to him. _

_Though I've never been afraid to cry  
Never thought I'd have a reason why  
I'll Remember   
Though I've never been afraid to cry  
Never thought I'd have a reason why  
I'll Remember   
Though I've never been afraid to cry  
Never thought I'd have a reason why  
I'll Remember_

_Now, she had a reason to cry, he was gone, and she had no one  
left. Did  
it ever stop hurting? Losing your family? Losing your love and your  
trust? How could anyone but Mulder ever hope to understand how she  
feels? She turned off the TV and cried herself into an oblivion._

________________________________  
Location Unknown  
5:15 PM_

_Mulder slowly emerged into consciousness in his bleak, stone  
walled  
cell. Mulder felt like he was back in Russia with Krychek when he looked  
at it. It was about nine feet square and had a heavy steel door and no  
windows. There was a vent in the ceiling along with a bare lightbulb.  
His bed was a lumpy mattress on the cold concrete floor. The  
"facilities" consisted of an open toilet and sink in the corner. He had  
complained, but it did no good. They would do what they wanted with him.  
That was what scared him. These men had no remorse or sense of right and  
wrong. It made him sick to think of what he had become now that he  
relinquished his power and sense of self.   
Mulder stood and began to pace. He could only wait for his  
chance to  
escape. Maybe he could black mail these men, or just break his way out.  
The men here had no morals, though. They would kill him without a second  
thought. He began to think of ways he could kill himself. _

________________________________  
Location Unknown  
Same Time_

_The same conference room from the week past that had held the  
most  
powerful men in the world now held court with two doctors and their  
smoking superior. His face held a look of disapproval chiseled in pale  
marble.   
"What did you do?" He calmly spit out, betraying his facade.  
"We administered the serum, as per your instructions." The young  
doctor  
whom before was so eager to have his hand at genetics and playing god  
with offspring now cowered behind his superior.   
"Then why have I gotten a report that your access code, Doctor  
Martin,  
was used in the introduction of a new fetus into our laboratory?" His  
anger began to show through his calm tones.   
Doctor Martin glanced nervously at his companion and then back  
at his  
superior. "My code?" He said between clenched teeth while throwing  
daggers at his companion.   
"Yes, your code!" He stood up and slammed his fist on the table.  
"I  
told you not to screw around with this one! What did you do!?" He took a  
long drag on his Morley before turning for the answer.   
"We, uh, we created a human offspring between subjects  
4-1-14-1-19  
and 6-15-24-23-13. It was suggested that studying the effects  
of the anti-verum and the cancer in an offspring might be valuable."  
Doctor Martin stared at the floor.   
"Suggested by whom?"  
"That would be me, sir." The young doctor explained.   
"Your name?"  
"Brian Pretts."  
The cigarette man pressed a small intercom on the wall and  
almost  
immediately four military guards came in. "Kill them both and dispose of  
the bodies as necessary." As the two bewildered men were dragged off, he  
pulled a cellular phone from his pocket and dialed a number that picked  
up immediately.   
"Yes?"  
"We have a problem."_

________________________________  
Dana Scully's Apartment  
10:36 A.M._

_Dana groggily awoke from a deep sleep. She didn't know when she  
had  
fallen asleep, or how, but it was the most rest she had gotten since IT  
happened. She wiped her eyes and looked over at the TV that was still  
on. It was some new band. Their word described the last few days of her  
life. _

_For the life of me  
I cannot remember  
What made us think that we were wise  
and we'd never compromise  
For the life of me  
I cannot believe   
we'd ever die for these sins  
we were merely freshmen_

_Dana closed her eyes and fought the tears. She had to gain  
control,  
control of her life without him. Dana wrapped her arms around her and  
snuggled deeper into Mulder's blanket with her eyes closed, willing  
blissful sleep. In her dreams he was alive and waiting for her.   
The shrill ring of the phone brought her back to her harsh  
reality. She  
listened to it ring twice, three times, before the answering machine  
picked up.   
"Hello, you've reached Dana Scully. You know the drill." Years  
of  
working with Mulder was showing, even in her answering machine messages.   
"Dana? It's Mom. I know I said some horrible things, but, I want  
to  
take them back." Margaret paused, hoping her daughter would pick up.   
"Dana? Dear, please. I know your hurting, he was a nice man. I want to  
be there for you. Dana," Margaret was exasperated after a sleepless  
night. "Please, just call me. Bye."   
Dana listened to her mothers words. Were they sincere? Or were  
they  
just the dutiful word of a mother who pledged to love her daughter? Was  
it because she was dying? Is that why she was so ready to apologize? The  
thinking made Dana's head hurt. She turned her attention back to the  
TV.   
"I'm Robin Dorian. We're back with the new video by Jewel.  
Here's  
"Foolish Games." _

_You took your coat off and stood in the rain  
You were always crazy like that_

_Dana remembered their first case in Oregon when they stood out  
in a  
grave yard looking for a bunch of dead bodies. They just stood there,  
arguing. That was the first of many crazy things they would do. _

_I watched from my window  
Always felt I was outside looking in on you _

_Sometimes, during their cases, Dana would just sit back and  
watch  
Mulder with that incredible mind of his. She would just listen to him  
make fantastic, but plausible, jumps in logic. Once every few cases she  
felt like she was just along for the ride. _

_You were the mysterious one  
With dark eyes and careless hair  
You were fashionably sensitive, but too cool to care_

_Mulder had rugged good looks. In the dictionary next to tall,  
dark, and  
handsome was Mulder's picture. Every once in a while he would wear a tie  
that was completely crazy, and still he was a work of art. Mulder was  
too cool to care. As they would walk by their co-workers, a stray  
comment about Spooky Mulder would occasionally pop out, and he just kept  
walking. They hurt him, but he never let it show. _

_Then you stood in my doorway, with nothing to say  
Besides some comment on the weather  
Well incase you failed to notice  
In case you failed to see   
This is my heart bleeding before you  
This is me down on my knees_

_Dana had risked everything for Mulder. And now, with her cancer,  
every  
day was like a death sentence. Countless times she had walked in that  
office with her heart on her sleeve, ready to talk, needing to talk, but  
he was all business. Maybe it was his way of trying to forget, but it  
hurt her deeply. _

_These foolish games are tearing me apart  
Your thoughtless words are breaking my heart  
You're breaking my heart_

_Mulder's games had hurt her. Especially this last case. He had  
run off  
without her again. Then, when he asked for her opinion, he was so intent  
on believing that he didn't want to listen to her. Then, when she was  
trying to tell him about her cancer, he would ignore her. She was alone  
before he killed himself. _

_You were always brilliant in the morning  
Smoking your cigarettes, talking over coffee  
Your philosophies on art Baroque moved you   
You loved Mozart and you'd speak of your loved ones   
As I clumsily strummed my guitar _

_You'd teach me of honest things  
Things that were daring, things that were clean  
Things that knew what an honest dollar did mean  
So I hid my soiled hands behind my back _

_Mulder had thought her so much. He had taught her never to take  
things  
at face value, and to sometimes take a step back and look at things with  
a different perspective. He was so honest and talented and sometimes she  
felt like she wanted to hide her inexperience in the cases that they  
pursed. Sometimes she felt like a child talking to her teacher. _

_Somewhere along the line I must've gone off track with you  
Excuse me, think I've mistaken you for somebody else  
Somebody who gave a damn  
Somebody more like myself_

_Recently, Dana felt like Mulder was a stranger, like she didn't  
know  
him anymore. It happened just after she told him of her cancer. Wether  
it was denial or it just wasn't important to him, his actions hurt her,  
and so did his words. She missed the old Mulder. _

_These foolish games are tearing me apart  
Your thoughtless words are breaking my heart  
You're breaking my heart  
You took your coat off and stood in the rain  
You were always like that._

_Dana threw the remote at the TV._

________________________________  
Location Unknown  
11:07 AM_

_"What are we to do?" The Well-Manicured man demanded.  
"Gentlemen, if  
she finds out, we will have a larger problem than we had before! I  
thought that you said you had it under control!"  
"I couldn't account for my...problematic...doctors." Cancer Man  
sat  
strait, facing his colleague. "But I do have an idea."  
"Please, Explain!" The Well-Manicured man was losing patients.   
"I believe we should kill her, using our newest asset."  
"Are you insane? One look at her and he would turn around and  
kill us!"  
"You know he is capable of no such thing!"  
"We should abort the project right where it is. Forget it. We  
can  
observe Scully and see if she's cured. If not we must move on to a  
completely new set of people. These bothersome agents are too wise to  
our tactics!"   
"Gentlemen, I believe that you are greatly mistaken in your  
course of  
action..."  
"You have no beliefs! You are no longer involved in this  
project!" The  
Well- Manicured Man pressed a call button and two Military guards walked  
in the room. "Escort my friend to his office."   
The Cancer man gathered his composure and walked out of the  
room,  
escorted by the two guards.   
"Now, what shall we do with Mr. Mulder?"_

________________________________  
Lab 26  
12:37 PM_

_Deep in the bowels of the building in the secluded areas of  
"Location  
Unknown" there was the infamous Lab 26. Lab 26 spawned the first hybrids  
in the Consortium's dangerous project. It spawned the first of the Adams  
and Eves before they were transferred to Lichfield, it hatched the first  
colony of Small Pox Bees, and it grew the first Samantha and the first  
Kurt. The latter went on to head their own branch of the project,  
cloning themselves and then producing more with the stolen ovum. They  
were the young workers in the fields of Canada, and they were the ones  
who had led Mulder and Scully astray, but ultimately in the right  
direction.   
Now, only one Kurt and one Samantha headed Lab 26. They made  
their  
daily rounds of the tanks that held fetuses in different stages of  
development. Samantha stopped at the tank marked 4-1-14-1-19 /  
6-15-24-23-13.  
"When was this fetus introduced?" Samantha looked at the tank.  
"Two days ago. Why?" Kurt stopped his work.  
"It wasn't tested with the serum?"  
"It's supposed to go through normal developmental stages. The  
project's  
been outlined. Here." He handed her a small booklet.   
"Who are the parents?"  
"Um," he looked at the numbers, taking a second to decode it  
from  
memory. "Dana S., Fox W.M. Why?"  
Samantha dashed to the phone._

________________________________  
Location Unknown  
2:24 PM_

_"Agent Mulder," The Well Manicured man, along with two guards,  
walked  
into his cell. "There is no longer any use for you. We are releasing  
you."  
"What? That wasn't part of the deal. What's going on? What's  
happened  
with Dana?" Mulder was throughly perplexed, his mind running a hundred  
different, horrible, scenarios.   
"She's been treated and released. There was an  
unforeseen...glitch that  
has deemed Agent Scully and yourself...useless to us at this time.  
Therefore we are releasing you."  
"Woah, what kind of glitch?" Mulder's memory pulled up a  
conversation  
with "offspring" as the prominent topic.   
"A doctor who felt he could play god. Now if you'll please.."  
"What do you mean play god? What did you do to us?" Mulder was  
screaming at the top of his lungs. They did something to him and Scully,  
something horrible and unforgivable.   
"Nothing that hasn't already been fixed. You have nothing to  
worry  
about."  
"The hell I don't! What did they do?" Mulder walked right up to  
him,  
yelling in his face.   
"Gentlemen..." The Well-Manicured man stepped back as his two  
escorts  
grabbed Mulder and sedated him. "I knew this would be hard."  
They followed the Well Manicured man down the hall, dragging  
Mulder  
behind them. _

________________________________  
Dana Scully's Apartment  
2:15 AM_

_"You get all of this- The MagiCan, 50 feet if tough Polyurethane  
bags,  
100 of our patented Tight Ties, and, the lifetime money-back guarantee,  
for just five easy payments of $29.98!" Dana thought while lying on her couch, unmoving from the  
previous days. "Isn't that great folks?"  
"NO! MORE!" came the enthusiastic answer from the too fake  
audience.  
Dana found herself pitiful that she couldn't even laugh at these  
horrible commercials anymore.  
"More? Well, how about the Travel Mini MagiCan for your car?  
Plus 100  
more Tight Ties and 25 feet of our specially sized bagging?"  
"NO! MORE!" Dana was mesmerize by the horrible acting...and the  
horrible products.  
"More? How about our new, never released car freshener? A $50  
value by  
itself for free! And since I love our Terrific Gadgets audience- I'll  
take fifty dollars off the entire package! Only five easy payments of  
$19.98!"   
"Fraud!" Dana yelled at the television while she changed the  
channel. A  
western, no, infomercial, no, sitcom, no, music videos, no!  
Dana finally stopped on a re-run of Silk Stalkings. It was the  
final  
episode for the two actors on the series before the new team of actors  
came in. Rita was sitting by the mortally wounded Chris' bedside praying  
for his return. It was the end of a story arch that had finally resolved  
the tension between the two leads, finally having them sleep with each  
other. Of course they were in love, deeply. Could it be any other way on  
TV? But then Rita got pregnant, and of course Chris was ecstatic, but  
then Rita was abducted, by humans, and he got wounded rescuing her.  
Then, he died in the hospital. The most flawed ending you could ask for.  
But that was television.   
But, could it also be real life? What if that had happened to  
her? What  
if Dana had gotten involved with Fox? It became so startlingly  
frightening to her, that Fox would indeed lay down his life for her in  
such a situation, and that they could have had a relationship prior to  
this...   
Dana cried in wracking sobs, and it had nothing to do with the  
dire  
events playing out on the screen before her. _

________________________________  
Dana Scully's Apartment  
7:15 AM_

_Dana stirred, sitting up, her limbs stiff. On the television a  
children's cartoon was annoyingly loud. She shut the television off and  
went into the bathroom. _

_Outside the building two men dragged a body up the stairs._

_Dana pulled her hair up into a messy French twist while her tub  
filled  
with water. Today was his funeral. She threw a few drops of scented bath  
oils into her claw-footed tub while she listened to the coffee maker  
percolate. _

_The elevator doors opened to reveal two men with their  
unconsciene  
third party, and their preoccupied leader. _

_Dana sat back in her tub, letting the bubbles and wisps of steam  
surround her. This was exactly what she needed right now. A nice, warm,  
relaxing bath.   
{You never draw my bath.} The memory hit her like a brick wall.  
Mulder,  
sitting in her hotel room, reading a file, then saying that and wearing  
the most innocent and hurt look he could muster. Now it was all but a  
memory. _

_The four men converged on apartment 35._

_Dana closed her eyes and rested her head against the side of the  
tub.  
She needed closure, she had to put him to rest. Although she may never  
know all of the answers to why, she would at least be able to say some  
sort of goodbye. She had been asked to do the elegy at the funeral, and  
she hadn't written down one word. She knew that when the time came, she  
would be able to speak from her heart. It was in some way reassuring  
that she knew him so well that she could say anything and it would be  
the right thing. _

_Out side of number 35 the two men laid down the body of Fox  
Mulder and  
then headed toward the stairwell.   
As they left from the rear of the building, the three paranoid  
Lone  
Gunmen buzzed Scully's apartment. _

_BUZZ!! The Buzzer for her apartment rang, forcing her out of her  
sanctuary. Dana pulled on her thick, pale blue terrycloth robe before  
going into the livingroom to answer the intercom.   
"Yes?"  
"Scully, it's us." Byers said  
"We think we might know more about Mulder," Langley said, not  
noticing  
the unmarked van driving away in the distance.  
"But, Mulder's dead." Could they have forgotten already?  
"Scully, remember? You came to our office, we saw the body in  
the  
morgue, it wasn't him." Frohike became thoroughly worried.  
"Oh my God! I thought that was a dream! Hurry, come on up!" Dana  
closed  
the bathroom door and threw on Mulder's Oxford shirt and jean shorts,  
leaving her hair up. She waited impatiently for her three friends, yes  
friends, to arrive.   
Finally, after what seemed like forever, she opened the door to  
look  
out. A body fell at her feet. It groaned.   
Dana jumped back in surprise. No, it couldn't be! "Fox?"  
"Ugghh." He moaned again, still unconscious. She kneeled and  
took his  
head into her lap, it was Fox, still looking exactly like he did the  
last time she saw him, same clothes even, although they looked like they  
had been washed sometime during that two week period. She brushed the  
hair away from his face and cradled it in her lap. His body was too  
large for her to carry by herself, so she decided to wait for the Gunmen  
to help her.   
The elevator binged and the doors opened. When the Gunmen saw  
the scene  
they rushed out to help her.   
"Mulder!" Frohike exclaimed, excited to see his friend had  
thwarted  
death yet again.   
"Help me get him inside," Dana began to shift into doctor mode,  
not  
knowing anything about his condition. Byers grabbed his ankles and  
Frohike lifted him from under his arms, both men almost dragging him to  
the couch. "No, my bed." Dana pointed to a room just off to the right.   
They took him in there and practically threw him on the bed.  
Dana  
rushed into her bathroom, now filled with steam, and emerged with her  
medical kit. "Byers, get me my cell phone. It's in the living room -  
somewhere. Langley, call the cemetery, call off the funeral, tell them  
not to bury the corpse but to ship it to the FBI labs for me, care of  
Walter Skinner."  
"What can I do?" Frohike said as the other gunmen left to  
complete  
their respective tasks.   
"Prey they didn't do to him what they did to me." She pealed the  
beige  
sweater off of his body, then his boots and socks, leaving him in jeans  
and a black mock turtle neck. She felt his forehead for a temperature,  
then began checking his pulse.  
"Got it." Byers walked in with her cell phone.   
"Great." She took it and checked her watch. After doing some  
quick math  
she figured Mulder's pulse was just about normal. She turned on her cell  
phone and hit her third speed dial.   
"Assistant Directors Office."   
"Kimberley, I need to speak to Skinner."  
"Agent Scully, I'm sorry he's in a meeting."  
"This is very important," Dana was exasperated, her energy  
leaving her  
almost hyperventilating while checking Mulder's other vital signs.  
"I'm sorry-"  
"PUT ME THROUGH!" Dana demanded. Through the phone she could  
hear them  
talking on the intercom.   
"Sir, Agent Scully is on the line."  
"I asked that you please hold my calls."  
"She's being very insistent, I believe you may want to take  
this."  
"Thank you, Gentlemen, please excuse me." He picked up the  
phone.  
"Agent Scully, I'm in a meeting with the director-"  
"Mulder's alive."  
"What?"  
"He's alive. Somebody literally left him on my doorstep. I just  
found  
him a few minutes ago."  
"I'll be there along with a team in a few minutes."  
"Thank you." Dana hung up and returned her attention to Mulder.  
He  
wasn't running a temperature, he was breathing, no injuries appeared  
outwardly, he looked like he was sleeping. "Mulder! Mulder, can you hear  
me?"_

_He could hear her, the voice of an angel, calling him to her.  
Dana's  
voice. Mulder wanted to move, he really did. He wanted to take her in  
his arms and never let go, he wanted to tell her of what he heard, what  
he did, but he couldn't. He couldn't even open his eyes. He was afraid  
for what they might have done to them, what they might do, he was  
ashamed of himself for his actions, and he knew that he would carry the  
guilt for causing Dana's cancer and then making her anguish over his  
"death" for the rest of his life. But now, as he lay in her bed, her  
soft hands checking his body for injury and caressing his face  
occasionally, trying to coax a word or grunt from him, he knew that he  
was safe. And no matter what they would face, as long as they were  
together they would survive and thrive. Love concurs all.  
He gathered all of his meager strength and bent his elbow,  
raising his  
hand. Dana clasped her own delicate hand to his immediately, weaving  
their fingers together. With his eyes still closed he could imagine what  
she looked like right now, climbing on the bed to get closer to him,  
seeing the concern cross the features of his face.   
"Fox?" As she slid closer her other hand went to his forehead,  
brushing  
back his unruly locks.   
Slowly he built up his strength again, letting Dana support his  
raised  
hand. He spoke, letting the words come out in horse whispers before he  
surrendered to the blackness. "Love you."_

________________________________  
Office of Dr. Jon Elliot  
Two weeks later  
2:20 PM  
As Dana saw it a lot had happened to get her to this point, too  
much in  
fact. But, as she had said once before, she would do it all over again  
had she known any of this was going to happen, well except for the fluke  
man thing, they both could have lived without that just fine.   
After Mulder's heartfelt admission he had passed out, and just  
as he  
did, Skinner and a forensic team showed up; so the Gunmen bid Mulder a  
fond farewell and then shimmed out the fire escape. The investigators  
disturbed everyone, waking up almost every person in the building to see  
if they saw or heard anything. They stopped the elevators to dust for  
prints, dusted the stair well, and Dana's entire apartment. Hundreds of  
prints were found, but none could even be remotely connected with  
Mulder's disappearance. Skinner called an ambulance as the team began to  
pick apart her apartment, and she wasn't even allowed to go with Mulder  
to the hospital because she was being interrogated.   
When she was released, Dana rushed to the hospital where Mulder  
was  
taken, screaming like a mad woman when they refused to let her see him  
or his chart. They were on the verge of restraining her when he woke up  
and asked for her.   
For the three days he was in the hospital she stayed by his  
side,  
sitting in the chair outside his room when his mother visited to give  
them privacy, and when Dana left he was always with someone and she was  
never gone long. The second day they had a conversation, well, half a  
conversation. He had been heavily sedated and was still recovering from  
some unknown ailment.   
"Dana, we need to talk."  
"Not now, when we get home."  
"Home?"  
"I'm not letting you out of my site. You are staying at my  
place. At  
least until I can't keep you there anymore." She flashed one of her  
million dollar smiles at him. He closed his eyes for a second in  
response.   
"Dana?"  
"Humm?"  
"Why are you here? After all I've done to you?"  
"I love you, Fox. I can't help it. And you didn't do any of this  
to  
me-"  
"But your cancer, you have to blame me for that-"  
"No, I don't. I blame the cigarette man for that, and the people  
who  
stop us from doing our jobs. Not you. How could I blame the best thing  
in my life?"  
"Ok. Then why are you here all the time? You can go home..."  
"If it were me, would you?"  
"No, but it's-"  
"Yes, it is the same, so don't talk." He closed his eyes and  
fell  
asleep, content he had an idea of how she felt. Dana watched him sleep,  
then rested her head on his chest and did the same.   
Mulder came home with Dana after only three short days in the  
hospital.  
Thankfully there was no sign of branched DNA in his system, and he  
appeared healthy. He slept a lot for the first two days he was at her  
apartment, she took the couch and let him have the bed. Dana took care  
of him like a doctor, like a friend , and like a lover, switching  
between the three depending on his mood. The antibiotics he had been  
given gave Mulder horrible mood swings, and all Dana could do was adjust  
to each mood and roll with the punches. As if Mulder didn't whine enough  
when he was incapacitated, now he was depressed, hyper, angry and upset  
all at the same time. She thanked God it was only a two day  
prescription.   
Once Mulder was back to himself he explained the whole thing to  
Dana.  
The whole horrible plot. Except for what he heard in the testing room  
about offspring. He wanted to talk to the Gunmen before he told Dana  
anything. Sometimes she cried silently, sometimes she just stared, but  
she never talked, she let him tell all of it.   
"Then they shoved a needle in me, and then I was here." Mulder  
stared  
at Dana, bearing his soul. She just sat there, with her hands in his.  
"Dana?"  
She collapsed, sobbing hysterically, into his arms.   
"Shhh, it's alright. I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He held her tight,  
stroking  
her back to calm her.   
"No, don't say your sorry. That is the sweetest and nicest and  
most  
sincere thing that anyone has ever done for me."  
"But I made you believe I was dead, I hurt you. You said so  
yourself."  
"Mulder, you were ready to become the thing that you despise the  
most  
and that you have fought against all your life, on a half promise. Don't  
you see how brave and caring and selfless that is?" She wiped away the  
tears and looked in his eyes, searching for...something.  
"I would do anything for you. I trust you more than anyone, I  
care for  
you, love you more than anything I ever have before. I would have done  
that for you, hell, I would become Cancer man for you if you asked. You  
have done more for me than anyone ever has or ever could. Dana, I would  
die for you. I don't know how to explain what I'm feeling. It's  
something I have never felt before. The mere thought of you can make me  
happy, change my day. And you are what kept me sane when I sat in that  
small cell; knowing that I was doing this for you, it made it all okay."  
He looked deep into her eyes, searching her soul. "I would have been  
dead long ago if it weren't for you. Without you I am incomplete, and  
without you life is not worth living. It's like forever I've been  
walking around without a piece of me, but I never knew it was missing  
until I found you. Nothing could ever be more important to me. Not the  
X-Files, not Samantha, you are why I'm here, why I live, why I breathe.  
And when you leave this life I will surely follow you, because then I  
will have nothing left. I've loved you all my life, even before I met  
you. Can you even begin to understand how I feel?" Fox's hand cupped her  
cheek, his thumb lightly rubbing.   
"I can," She brought her hands to hold his face, brushing away  
his  
unruly hair. "Because I feel the same way. I never had the strength to  
face it before, that's all. But now I know that, had you been dead, had  
I attended your funeral, I would have come back here and killed myself.  
I know I wouldn't be able to live without you." Dana's eyes flew over  
his face, memorizing his every feature. "It would be like half of me was  
missing." She looked into his eyes and leaned up, lightly brushing her  
lips against his. It was like electricity coursed through their veins.  
She pressed her lips harder against his again, hungry for the human  
contact. That night they made mind-blowing love all night for the first  
time, and it was also their first kiss.   
So that's how they got up to this point. She had just had an MRI  
and a  
regular examination by her oncologist, Dr. Elliot. Now, she sat in his  
office, with Mulder, waiting for the results. After what he had told  
her, and her memory of a meeting with the Lone Gunmen that never seemed  
to happen, she had hope. Maybe there was a cure, and maybe she had it.  
She held Mulder's hand as the doctor walked into the room.   
"Dana, Mulder." He said as he sat at his desk, acknowledging  
both the  
agents, but making Dana's stomach flutter at that particular combination  
of names. "You both know how dire Dana's condition was, now," Mulder and  
Scully looked at each other.  
"Was?" They said in unison.  
"Yes, was. Your cancer had matastacised and gone into your blood  
stream, but now, there is no trace in the blood tests, and the MRI shows  
it's shrunk." He handed her an X-ray of her head, showing the mass  
considerably smaller. "Your cancer has gone into remission, and I can't  
explain it." Dana and Fox looked at each other. The Cancer man had kept  
his word. _

________________________________  
Dana's apartment  
3:54 PM_

_Dr. Elliot had kept them there to explain the details of his  
findings,  
and to explain that a cancer that has gone into remission can come back,  
but Dana had a feeling it wouldn't. She just knew.   
When they had left the building Dana had to lean on Fox to keep  
her  
balance, she felt like she was going to faint. After all she had been  
through, it was gone, her cancer was gone.   
With trembling hands, Dana opened the door to her apartment,  
leading  
into the greyish blackness of the rooms. She looked into the black  
rooms, and felt something lift off of her shoulders. Then she looked at  
the rooms again, instead of being black, they were hues of yellow and  
beige and pink. And Dana knew she had lost the bleakness from her life.  
Now, everyday wasn't a death sentence where she could be looking at her  
life for the last time, now she had hope and a long life to look forward  
to.   
Fox came up behind her and encircled her waist with his arms.  
She laid  
her arms on his and leaned into his chest, resting her head just below  
his chin. He tilted his head and ran his cheek along the crown of her  
head, resting it there.   
"I can't tell you why Dana." Mulder's voice was a whisper, if he  
had  
raised he would have cried. "Because I don't know. But I do know that  
we've been given a second chance, and we can't take it for granted. I  
won't let us."  
Dana could feel the lump in her throat grow as she pushed the  
whispered  
words past it. "No matter what we do, or where we go, nothing can hurt  
us if we're together. I never want to leave your arms. Could we stay  
like this forever?"  
"I intend to. I intend to."  
And their lives started. _

________________________________  
Lab 26  
7:41 PM_

_"Samantha, Kurt." The Smoking Man acknowledged his workers as he  
entered the infamous lab.  
"Sir." They said together without emotion.  
"Do you need help?" Samantha asked.  
"I would like a talk with you both, if you have the time." They  
both  
stopped their work at the tanks filled with bodies floating in a fluid  
and went over to the small square table in the corner.   
"What can we do for you?" Kurt asked.  
"I told my superiors that one of the fetuses down here was  
destroyed.  
Number 4-1- 14-1-19 / 6-15-24-23-13 to be exact. I don't want you to act  
any different. I will take all responsibility should certain people find  
out about it. Read this," he handed her a few typewritten pages. "Then  
destroy it. That's what I want to be done with the fetus. Protect it,  
and keep it safe until I have told them.   
"What if they should find out sooner?" Samantha became agitated,  
her  
previous actions bothering her.   
"See to it that that doesn't happen. We can't afford mistakes  
now." He  
put his cigarette out on the table then left the lab, shutting the door  
with a force that rang through the quiet room.   
Samantha cradled her head in her hands. "Damn."_

_X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X_

**Author's Note:**

> End Disclaimer-   
> If you've gotten this far... I luv you for reading this! Please, let us  
> know what you think! Mel and i love the wonderful comments we've been  
> getting!   
>  Again, for any archivest who would like to post this in larger  
> parts or  
> as a whole, please mail me and I will send it to you in the form you  
> would like.   
>  The reference to "Captain's Chair" is from a Paula Graves series  
> and is  
> used, lovingly, without permission.   
>  A.J. Hammer & Robin Dorian belong to themselves and are real  
> VJ's for  
> VH1. VH1 belongs to whoever owns it and no infringement is intended. To  
> my knowledge there has never been a "Top 100 Theme Songs from  
> Hollywood." I made it up along with the video's #20 placement.   
>  Madonna belongs to herself, thankfully, and I believe the song  
> "I'll  
> Remember" is hers, too. It's from the movie With Honors. I winged it on  
> the words so please excuse any errors.   
>  The song "The Freshmen" belongs to the group The Verve Pipe.  
> They  
> belong to themselves.  
>  This story's namesake song "Foolish Games" is off of Jewel's CD  
> PIECES  
> OF YOU. The version in the story is off of the album and not the video.  
> (They have slightly different acoustics.) Jewel belongs to herself.  
>  I made up the MagiCan, but I believe there is a real product  
> with a  
> similar name. No infringements of any copyrights held on that product  
> are intended.   
>  Silk Stalkings is a real TV show that actually changed its lead  
> characters in the way I described. It airs on the USA network.   
>  As in all of the above, no infringement is intended on any of  
> the  
> products, songs, people, shows, or anything else in my story. All is  
> used lovingly and returned in mint condition.   
> All Done, Bye Now! 
> 
> end 6/6


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